is a Japanese ''seinen'' manga series written and illustrated by

Kou Yaginuma is a Japanese manga artist. In June 2000, his debut work, , began serialization in the ''Comic Flapper'' manga magazine. "The Fireworks of 2015" would serve as a prequel to his later and most notable work, ''Twin Spica'', which began serializat ...

. The "realistic,

slice-of-life Slice of life is a depiction of mundane experiences in art and entertainment. In theater, slice of life refers to naturalism, while in literary parlance it is a narrative technique in which a seemingly arbitrary sequence of events in a character ...

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

series" tells the story of a group of Japanese high school students training to become astronauts in the early 21st century after the country's first

human spaceflight Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be ...

launch ends in a disaster that causes many civilian casualties. It was serialized in the seinen manga magazine ''

Comic Flapper is a monthly Japanese seinen manga magazine, published on the 5th each month by Media Factory since November 5, 1999 as a successor to ''Comic Alpha''. The magazine celebrated its 100th issue on February 5, 2008 (March issue 2008). On July 13, ...

'' from September 2001 to August 2009 and was later published in 16 ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes by

Media Factory , formerly is a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing. History It was founded on December 1, 1986, and its headquarters are situated in Shibuya, Tokyo. It is a subsidiary of Recruit Co., Ltd. Media Factory was possi ...

from January 2002 to October 2009. The series is named after

Spica Spica is the brightest object in the constellation of Virgo and one of the 20 brightest stars in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation α Virginis, which is Latinised to Alpha Virginis and abbreviated Alpha Vir or α Vir. Analys ...

, a

binary star A binary star is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved using a telescope as separate stars, in wh ...

system and the brightest star in the constellation

Virgo Virgo may refer to: *Virgo (astrology), the sixth astrological sign of the zodiac *Virgo (constellation), a constellation *Virgo Cluster, a cluster of galaxies in the constellation Virgo *Virgo Stellar Stream, remains of a dwarf galaxy *Virgo Supe ...

. In the manga, Yaginuma includes many references to historical events related to the development of human spaceflight as well as literary works such as

Kenji Miyazawa was a Japanese novelist and poet of children's literature from Hanamaki, Iwate, in the late Taishō and early Shōwa periods. He was also known as an agricultural science teacher, a vegetarian, cellist, devout Buddhist, and utopian social acti ...

's novel ''

Night on the Galactic Railroad , sometimes translated as ''Milky Way Railroad'', ''Night Train to the Stars'' or ''Fantasy Railroad in the Stars'', is a classic Japanese fantasy novel by Kenji Miyazawa written around 1927. The nine-chapter novel was posthumously published in 1 ...

''. American publishing company

Vertical Vertical is a geometric term of location which may refer to: * Vertical direction, the direction aligned with the direction of the force of gravity, up or down * Vertical (angles), a pair of angles opposite each other, formed by two intersecting s ...

announced acquisition of the manga's license for English-language translation at the

New York Anime Festival The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. History The New York Comic Con is a f ...

in September 2009, and the translated first volume was published in May 2010. The series was described by Vertical marketing director Ed Chavez as "technically sound" and "heartfelt" during its initial assessment. The manga was adapted into an

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series by animation studio

Group TAC was a Japanese animation and computer graphics studio located in Shibuya, Tokyo, and founded in 1968 from former Mushi Pro staff. They worked on movies, videos, TV shows, and commercials, and contributed to all stages of the process, including p ...

. It premiered on November 1, 2003, on Japan's

NHK BS2 , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestria ...

satellite channel. Twenty episodes of the anime aired until March 27, 2004, when the series concluded prematurely before the manga was completed. Satellite television network

Animax , stylized as ANIMAX, is a Japanese animation satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. The channel also dubbed other cartoons in Japanese language. A subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, it is headq ...

has broadcast the anime in multiple regional language releases, including English. A

live-action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...

adaptation was produced by NHK in cooperation with the

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into orb ...

and aired between June 18 and July 30, 2009.

Story

Author and creator

began writing the

back-story A backstory, background story, back-story, or background is a set of events invented for a plot, presented as preceding and leading up to that plot. It is a literary device of a narrative history all chronologically earlier than the narrative of p ...

of ''Twin Spica'' in 2000 with his debut work . In it and in subsequent writings, Yaginuma constructed a

future history A future history is a postulated history of the future and is used by authors of science fiction and other speculative fiction to construct a common background for fiction. Sometimes the author publishes a timeline of events in the history, whi ...

of the development of Japan's spaceflight program. He introduces readers to a future following the launch of Japan's first manned spaceflight mission, the , in 2010. The mission ends in disaster when the

liquid rocket booster A liquid rocket booster (LRB) uses liquid fuel and oxidizer to give a liquid-propellant or hybrid rocket an extra boost at take-off, and/or increase the total payload that can be carried. It is attached to the side of a rocket. Unlike solid rocket ...

fuel catches fire 72 seconds after liftoff. Mission controllers are unable to activate the craft's abort sequence, and the rocket crashes into the city of

Yuigahama is a beach near Kamakura, a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The relation between the beach and its neighboring areas is complex. Although Yuigahama is legally the entire 3.2 km beach that goes from Inamuragasaki, which separates it from ...

, causing many casualties among residents. ISSFinalConfigEnd2006

The ''Lion''s explosion becomes one of the major accidents in spaceflight history and sets Japan's spaceflight program back by over a decade. In the years following the accident, the public accuses those involved with the ''Lion'' program of

negligence Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as a ...

. Rumors also begin to circulate about the

offshore outsourcing Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...

of the rocket's production despite the government's claims that it was developed domestically. To promote recovery from the tragedy, the

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology The , also known as MEXT or Monka-shō, is one of the eleven Ministries of Japan that composes part of the executive branch of the Government of Japan. Its goal is to improve the development of Japan in relation with the international community ...

establishes the Tokyo National Space School in 2014 as a

vocational high school A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the tasks ...

dedicated to training a new generation of students in the

space science Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

s. Japan's spaceflight program is finally reactivated ten years later with the admission of students into the academy's astronaut training program. In the same year, the last operating module of the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

is retired and destroyed by

atmospheric reentry Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the entr ...

following completion of the station's long-term mission. Subsequent development projects are to be completed by individual countries with active spaceflight programs. Of the students in the inaugural class of the astronaut training program, one is selected to join the crew of Japan's second manned mission in 2027. It is the final mission toward completing a

space-based solar power Space-based solar power (SBSP, SSP) is the concept of collecting solar power in outer space by solar power satellites (SPS) and distributing it to Earth. Its advantages include a higher collection of energy due to the lack of reflection and ab ...

satellite.

Main characters

Yaginuma's work prior to serialization introduces readers to Asumi Kamogawa and her mentor, the ghost of a Lion astronaut whom she calls Mr. Lion. Their friendship develops in several short stories in which, throughout her childhood, he nurtures Asumi's interest in space. As her interest and dreams grow, Asumi is often ridiculed by classmates, especially because she immerses herself in books about space and rarely engages in classroom activities. When she decides to apply for admission to the Tokyo Space Academy, her teachers urge her to reconsider because she is below average height. Her friendship with Mr. Lion continues to grow after Asumi successfully enters the academy, and she often consults him during periods of self-doubt. Asumi's elementary and middle school classmate Shinnosuke Fuchuya also enters the academy much to her surprise. He defended Asumi from ridicule by other classmates throughout their childhood despite occasionally teasing her as well, and it has been suggested that he sees her as a

romantic interest Romance or romantic love is a feeling of love for, or a strong attraction towards another person, and the courtship behaviors undertaken by an individual to express those overall feelings and resultant emotions. The ''Wiley Blackwell Encycl ...

. The two eventually befriend three other students in the astronaut training program. Shu Suzuki, who is named student representative for the astronaut program, has an easygoing personality. He wears a distinctive face by shaving his eyebrows as a symbol of defiance against his father. Kei Oumi befriends Asumi during the academy's entrance examination and is portrayed with an outgoing personality and a deep sense of loyalty toward her friends. Marika Ukita initially responds coldly toward gestures of friendship, but she moves into Asumi's

dormitory A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...

following an argument with her father. The five students later make a promise to complete the astronaut program together as their friendship grows stronger. After three years in the astronaut program, Asumi is chosen out of eleven remaining students to take part in Japan's second human spaceflight mission, making her, at the age of eighteen, the youngest person to go into space. Throughout their time at the academy, astronaut candidates must overcome numerous physical and mental trials. Readers discover from a pre-serialization story that Asumi's mother dies following the Lion disaster, but this is not known to Asumi's friends until Kei discovers the obituary listing in a newspaper article. Marika is revealed to be the genetic copy of a deceased Marika Ukita despite a standing ban on

human cloning Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy (or clone) of a human. The term is generally used to refer to artificial human cloning, which is the reproduction of human cells and tissue. It does not refer to the natural concepti ...

. Fuchuya suffers from

red-green color blindness Color blindness or color vision deficiency (CVD) is the decreased ability to see color or differences in color. It can impair tasks such as selecting ripe fruit, choosing clothing, and reading traffic lights. Color blindness may make some aca ...

after his eyes are exposed to an exploding firework at close range in a childhood accident. Unknown to the group, Shu suffers from

hereditary Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic inform ...

hemoptysis Hemoptysis is the coughing up of blood or blood-stained mucus from the bronchi, larynx, trachea, or lungs. In other words, it is the airway bleeding. This can occur with lung cancer, infections such as tuberculosis, bronchitis, or pneumonia, and ...

(coughing up of blood) and dies from the condition soon after his selection as an exchange student to the American space program. This tragedy reveals Kei's feelings for him, which she keeps hidden for much of the series.

Production

Writing

The series is named after

, a

system in the constellation

and one of the

brightest stars This is a list of stars arranged by their apparent magnitude – their brightness as observed from Earth. It includes all stars brighter than magnitude +2.50 in visible light, measured using a ''V''-band filter in the UBV photometric system. Stars ...

in the nighttime sky. It appears as one star because of the relatively low center-to-center distance between the two component stars, estimated at an average of 11 million miles (17.7 million km). Astronomical observations also suggest that there may be additional stars in the Spica system. In the story, Asumi mentions Spica's distance to Earth as 350

light-year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

s. This figure is also cited by the

; however, other sources indicate a distance of approximately 260 light-years.

's initial inspiration for the story came from a statement he once read describing the

Hohner Hohner Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of musical instruments, founded in 1857 by Matthias Hohner (1833–1902). The roots of the Hohner firm are in Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg. Since its foundation, and though known ...

Little Lady

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

as one of the first musical instruments taken into space. However, as an aspiring

manga artist A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist be ...

, Yaginuma had neither resources to conduct research on nor knowledge pertaining to spaceflight. He also hesitated to write the series because his own life experiences did not reflect the dreams of his characters. Despite these challenges, Yaginuma found comfort in the determination of his characters, especially that of Asumi Kamogawa. Although ''Twin Spica'' began serialization in the October 2001 issue of

's ''Comic Flapper'' magazine, its lead character Asumi had appeared in Yaginuma's debut work "2015:Fireworks". This short story published in the July 2000 issue of ''Comic Flapper'' also introduced readers to Asumi's father, her elementary school teacher Yuko Suzunari, and the astronaut ghost Mr. Lion. Four additional short stories that predate the series also feature Asumi as the central character: , , , and . These slice-of-life stories eventually served as

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term " ...

s to ''Twin Spica''.

Cultural references

''Twin Spica'' and its prequel stories make various references to historical figures and events in space exploration. Throughout the manga and the anime, Mr. Lion carries with him a harmonica, one of the first musical instruments to be played in space. A harmonica and bell set was carried aboard the

Gemini 6A Gemini 6A (officially Gemini VI-A) With Gemini IV, NASA changed to Roman numerals for Gemini mission designations. was a 1965 crewed United States spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. The mission, flown by Wally Schirra and Thomas P. Stafford ...

spaceflight in December 1965 by American astronauts

Wally Schirra Walter Marty Schirra Jr. (, March 12, 1923 – May 3, 2007) was an American naval aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. In 1959, he became one of the original seven astronauts chosen for Project Mercury, which was the United States' f ...

and

Thomas Patten Stafford Thomas Patten Stafford (born September 17, 1930) is an American former United States Air Force, Air Force officer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut, and one of List of Apollo astronauts#Apollo astronauts who flew to the Moon without landing, 24 p ...

. During the mission, the two men used these instruments to play "

Jingle Bells "Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and most commonly sung American songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and published under the title "The One Horse Open Sleigh" in September 1857. It has been claimed th ...

". Asumi is nicknamed "Seagull" by Shu Suzuki in the anime. The same name was used as the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

of Soviet cosmonaut

Valentina Tereshkova Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova ( rus, Валентина Владимировна Терешкова, links=no, p=vɐlʲɪnʲˈtʲinə vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvnə tʲɪrʲɪʂˈkovə, a=Valentina Tereshkova.ogg; born 6 March 1937) is an engine ...

, the first woman in space, during her 1963 mission aboard

Vostok 6 Vostok 6 (russian: Восток-6, ''Orient 6'' or ''East 6'') was the first human spaceflight to carry a woman, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, into space. Mission The spacecraft was launched on 16 June 1963. While Vostok 5 had been delayed by t ...

. Prior to Shu's death in the live-action adaptation, he reveals to his friends that the ''

New Horizons ''New Horizons'' is an Interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research ...

'' spacecraft destined for

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...

carries the cremated ashes of the dwarf planet's discoverer,

Clyde Tombaugh Clyde William Tombaugh (February 4, 1906 January 17, 1997) was an American astronomer. He discovered Pluto in 1930, the first object to be discovered in what would later be identified as the Kuiper belt. At the time of discovery, Pluto was cons ...

. Asumi later brings Shu's ashes during her first journey into space. There are also various references to real-world literary and musical works. The titles of two short stories in the manga, "Campanella's Forest" and , refer to the two main characters of

's novel ''

''. It appears in the penultimate episode of the anime and is also a favorite book of the original Marika Ukita. In both the manga and the live-action adaptation, Kei makes a request for Shu to play the piano piece " Der Flohwalzer", known in Japan as , if he becomes the first in their group to go into space.

Media

Manga

''Twin Spica'' began serialization in the October 2001 issue of the ''seinen'' (aimed at younger adult men)

manga magazine Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is used ...

''. It continued until the publication of the 89th chapter on August 5, 2009. The series was also published in ''

'' format in 16 volumes, with the final volume being published on October 23, 2009. Yaginuma's prequel short stories published prior to serialization are interspersed throughout these compilations. Two were included in the first volume; two were included in the second volume; and one was included in the third volume. Three additional prequel stories were also written by Yaginuma during serialization and published in the fourth, sixth, and ninth volumes, respectively. On March 23, 2006, Media Factory published the 80-page featuring color art from the manga. It also included a 24-month calendar and an interview with Kou Yaginuma. The series is licensed by

Tong Li Publishing Tongli Publishing Co. (Chinese: 東立出版社, Hanyu Pinyin: ''Dōng Lì Chūbǎnshè''), most known as Tong Li Comics, is a publishing company which distributes a variety of domestic and imported comics in Taiwan. History Tong Li was founded ...

for Chinese-language release in Taiwan under the title ''Dream of Spica'' (). It was translated by Li Lin-hui (), and the first volume was released in May 2005. Following a three-week contract negotiation, the American publishing company

announced at the 2009

that it had acquired the license to publish the series in English. Marketing director Ed Chavez explained that the motivation to acquire ''Twin Spica'' came from the company's desire to license works from Japanese publishers that have yet to form committed partnerships with major American publishers. He proposed continuing a previous partnership with

, from which Vertical licensed '' The Guin Saga''s manga adaptation. Vertical's distributor

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

announced a release date of May 4, 2010, for the first translated volume, contrary to the initial announcement that it will be released in August 2010. Chavez later confirmed via

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that Vertical will condense its North American releases into 12 volumes.

Anime

Japanese animation studio

produced ''Twin Spica''s anime adaptation, which was broadcast by

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestri ...

. The 20-episode series premiered on November 1, 2003, and aired until its conclusion on March 27, 2004.

Tomomi Mochizuki , sometimes incorrectly romanized as Tomomichi Mochizuki, is a Japanese storyboard artist, screenwriter, and director, known for having collaborated with leading animation studios such as Studio Ghibli, Nippon Animation, Pierrot, and Sunrise. He so ...

directed the anime series, and

Rika Nakase is a Japanese anime screenwriter. Works *''Fruits Basket'' (2001) Series Composition *''Princess Tutu'' (2002–2003) Script *''Twin Spica'' (2002–2003) Script *''Fushigiboshi no Futagohime'' (2005–2006) Series Composition *''Higurashi no Nak ...

wrote its screenplay. Masako Goto designed the characters for animation. When the series reached its conclusion, only 30 chapters of the manga had been published. Chapter 25, which concludes the story of Asumi and her classmates undergoing a test of their

survival skills Survival skills are techniques that a person may use in order to sustain life in any type of natural environment or built environment. These techniques are meant to provide basic necessities for human life which include water, food, and shelte ...

, was the final chapter to be adapted for the anime. Consequently, the series concludes prematurely with Asumi's ghost companion Lion-san leaving when he no longer has anything to teach her and her friends. The manga, however, continues with Lion-san appearing in subsequent chapters until his eventual departure in chapter 88. The anime series also aired in other parts of Asia on

. It was released in VHS and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

formats by King Records in five compilation volumes each. A special DVD collection containing the five flashback episodes—episodes 1, 5, 9, 12, and 16—was released on May 26, 2004, and a five-disc DVD box set was released on July 22, 2004. A two-part

novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...

of the anime and an official guide book to the adaptation were published in April 2004. The English-language

dubbing Dubbing (re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and video production, often in concert with sound design, in which additional or supplementary recordings are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production sou ...

of the ''Twin Spica'' anime premiered on

Animax Asia Animax is the pay television channel in Asia owned by KC Global Media Asia which broadcasts Japanese language anime and Simulcast anime, anime programming through English-language feeds in Southeast Asia (formerly including Brunei), South Asia (ex ...

on January 24, 2005.

Drama

NHK announced a seven-episode live-action

television drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms t ...

adaptation on March 30, 2009, produced in cooperation with the

, the country's national aerospace agency. Sixteen-year-old actress

Nanami Sakuraba (born October 17, 1992 in Izumi, Kagoshima) is a Japanese gravure idol and actress who won "Miss Magazine 2008". Filmography Drama * '' Akai Ito'' (2008) as Sara Nakagawa * '' Tokyo Girls'' (2008) * ''Nadeshiko Tai'' (2008) as Reiko Torihama ...

was cast for the role of Asumi Kamogawa, and filming for the series began on April 2. The drama was scheduled to air on June 11 but was eventually postponed by one week until June 18. Its airing coincided with the celebration of the

International Year of Astronomy The International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) was a year-long celebration of astronomy that took place in 2009 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with a telescope by Galileo Galilei and the pu ...

. Screenplay for the series was written by Shūko Arai and

Daigo Matsui is a Japanese screenwriter and film director. Filmography Film *''Afro Tanaka'' (2012, director) *''Daily Lives of High School Boys'' (2013, writer, director) *''Sweet Poolside'' (2014, writer, director) *'' Our Huff and Puff Journey'' (2014, w ...

. While writing the script, Arai found himself encouraged by the characters who must overcome various struggles in order to achieve their dreams. He also specified hopes and dreams as central themes in the story. Among the changes made in this adaptation is the removal of Lion-san as a central character.Lion-san does not make an appearance in the live-action adaptation and is, therefore, uncredited. Yaginuma did not make any restrictions for Arai and Matsui as he believed they knew the television audience best. "Nevertheless," he said, "I think the little Asumi I know and the Asumi portrayed by Ms. Nanami are both looking at the same sky." A three-disc DVD compilation box set of the adaptation was released by

Geneon Universal Entertainment (abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo. It is primarily involved in the production and distribution of anime within Japan. Th ...

on December 23, 2009.

Music

The song "Venus Say" by female pop musical group Buzy (band) was used as the anime's opening theme, and it was released as a

maxi single A maxi single or maxi-single (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. The first maxi singles Mungo Jerry's first single, "In the Summertime" was the ...

with two other songs on March 3, 2004. The single remained on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

music charts for seven weeks with a peak position at 29th place. Male pop group Begin adapted

Kyu Sakamoto was a Japanese singer and actor. He was best known outside Japan for his international hit song "Ue o Muite Arukō" (known as "Sukiyaki" in English-speaking markets), which was sung in Japanese and sold over 13 million copies. It reached number ...

's 1963 single as the ending theme song. A full

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

containing the two theme songs and 33 additional instrumental tracks by composer Kazunori Miyake was released on May 26, 2004.

Alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band

Orange Range are a 5-member Japanese rock music, rock band, based in Okinawa, Japan. Formed in 2001, the band began with Spice Music and later signed with Sony Music Entertainment Japan, Sony Music Japan's gr8! records division in 2003. The band left gr8! ...

's song was used as the ending theme for the live-action series. It was released as a maxi single with two other songs on July 8, 2009, and remained on the Oricon music charts for six weeks with a peak position at 5th place. A full soundtrack for the series containing 21 instrumental tracks was released by Harbor Records on August 5, 2009.

Reception

In an interview with the ''

Yomiuri Shimbun The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are t ...

'', Japanese astronaut

Koichi Wakata is a Japanese engineer and a JAXA astronaut. Wakata is a veteran of four NASA Space Shuttle missions, a Russian Soyuz mission, and a long-duration stay on the International Space Station. During a nearly two-decade career in spaceflight, he has ...

named ''Twin Spica'', because of its nostalgic story, as one of five manga series which highlight the dream of reaching space. While assessing the series for licensing in English,

marketing director Ed Chavez, a fan of science fiction, found its story "technically sound" and noted it as "possibly one of the most heartfelt series I've read in ages". He hoped that the series would rank in top 10 of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' Graphic Books Best Seller List for manga and believed that it would make Vertical a "known name, not only amongst better comic shops and independent book stores, but also with anime fans and casual

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

readers". While the series was originally published in a ''seinen'' magazine, Chavez expected that it would also appeal to fans of ''shōjo'' manga. He believed that the word ''

seinen is an editorial category of Japanese comics marketed toward young adult men. In Japanese, the word ''seinen'' literally means "youth", but the term "''seinen'' manga" is also used to describe the target audience of magazines like ''Weekly Ma ...

'' "means adult and does not make reference to gender". He hoped ''Twin Spica'' will prove to be a financial success and enable Vertical to fund future licenses of classic works by

Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu''; – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such ...

and the Forty-Niners. The first volume in English was listed by ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' as one of the most anticipated graphic novels of 2010. Jennifer Berman of THEM Anime Reviews rated the anime adaptation of ''Twin Spica'' five out of five stars but told readers, "Subtract a star if you don't like anime that have a somewhat slow pace." Berman praised its artistic design and noted that the character designs reminded her of works by

Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It is best known for its animated feature films, and ha ...

. She found the characters "likeable" and saw Marika Ukita as the most intriguing character. Despite her praises, Berman noted one weakness in the anime adaptation. She observed the ending as "a rather open-ended one, and while it wasn't a bad ending, they probably should have thought of something better". Similar to the manga, the anime series was seen as gender neutral.

Sony Pictures Entertainment Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, ac ...

vice president Todd Miller stated that ''Twin Spica'' was one of the titles aired on

which appealed to both genders. The first episode of the drama series aired with a 3.4 percent domestic viewership rating. Reviewers from the ''Yomiuri Shimbun'' rated the live-action adaptation an average two out of three stars and ranked it third overall among 11 series airing in summer 2009.

References

External links

;Manga
''Twin Spica''
on ''Comic Flapper'' magazine's website
''Twin Spica''
manga on licensor

's website * ;Anime
''Twin Spica''
on animation studio

's website
''Twin Spica''
anime on broadcaster

's website
''Twin Spica''
anime on music distributor Starchild's website * ;Drama
''Twin Spica''
drama on broadcaster

's website {{good article 2001 manga 2003 anime television series debuts 2009 Japanese television series debuts Coming-of-age anime and manga Group TAC Media Factory manga Kadokawa Dwango franchises NHK original programming Science fiction anime and manga Seinen manga Vertical (publisher) titles Works about astronauts